


The Greek Comedy

by HeavyMetalMothman



Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series), Watcher Entertainment RPF
Genre: (it will), Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Ancient Greek Religion & Lore Fusion, Bickering, Blood and Violence, Friends to Lovers, Gratuitous Banter, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Inaccurate Ancient Greek Religion & Lore, Jealous Shane Madej, Jealousy, M/M, Modern Fantasy AU, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Rating May Change, Ryan is the son of Hades, Sexual Tension, Shane is the son of Hermes and Apollo likes to think he's his distant adoptive dad, Sharing a Room, Violence, fantasy violence (i think)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-14 00:54:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 17,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29038194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeavyMetalMothman/pseuds/HeavyMetalMothman
Summary: Ryan and Shane would never have believed that at some point, either of them could get over their bullshit long enough to realize they were pining for each other.Of course, they never believed they'd fall ass first into a Greek Epic of a situation either; running all over fucking California on an actual honest-to-gods quest, fighting monsters, sneaking in the Underworld, and definitelynotgetting stupid jealous of each other's true parentage...But, hey. The Fates certainly could have spun a worse yarn for the two of them.
Relationships: Ryan Bergara/Shane Madej
Comments: 11
Kudos: 35





	1. A Chimera Burned Down The Sports Bar

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, buckle up.

The evening started off normal enough— well, it started off normal, period. 

The kind of evening where Ryan and Shane went out for pints with the lads, they'd try unsuccessfully to get with some chicks at a club but the chicks can see right through their poorly planned antics, they'd drink until they were pale, one of them (Ryan) tosses his dinner in an alley, then they’d part ways to pass out and nurse their well deserved headache late into the next day. 

That kind of normal.

Well, they certainly had sunk in a few rounds by the late evening, moving from one bar to the next in a slow pub crawl, nothing to really celebrate but each other's company. An ordinary night in Los Angeles, just four guys being pals.  The small hand on the current bar’s wall clock had just landed at 10:37pm. This number meant nothing, only marking the precise moment Shane announced without wit or tact that he had to make use of the facilities. 

“Ryan, move, or I’m gonna piss all over the both of us,” Shane said, pushing against Ryan’s solid shoulder with the thin meat of his own upper arm. 

“Would it be weird if I followed you?” Ryan asked with a tacky grin on his face before snorting into his pint glass.

“Only if you make it weird, now  _ move. _ ” 

He shoved Ryan again, this time hard enough to partially shove Ryan out of the booth, making his beer slopping outside the glass as his hand was jostled. Ryan coughed out what should have been a wheeze but finally got up off his butt to let Shane out of the booth, wiping his damp hand on his pants.

“Congrats to you both for making going to the bathroom so incredibly nuanced and gay,” Tj said, who then took a large drink of his own bottled swill for emphasis. “Can’t have anything nice with you two around.”

Ryan huffed and crossed his arms, a little too tipsy to be dealing with Tj’s shenanigans.

“Well, it wasn’t gay until you pointed it out, so thanks for that, Teej. Normally I’d love to stand here and backpedal but I actually do have to take a piss, so you win this round.” 

“I’m sure your wife will let you have a little gay, as a treat.” Said Steven, who was the only one out of the four sipping on a $15 cocktail of some sort. He hummed, looking at Tj with an impish grin on his face, just impish enough to make Tj scoot away from him the barest amount.

“Fuck you, Lim.” 

Steven cackled at that, slapping his hand on the table. “You’re so  _ easy, _ Tj!”

“Gay or not,” Shane interjected. “We both gotta pee. We will return. Save some ladies for the Ry-Guy, seems like he’s having a tough night.” And then he turned and blundered past Ryan who was looking at him with the evil eye. Finally, he looked back at Tj to shrug before following his friend to the dark, dirty recesses of the men’s room.

Ryan glanced around as they milled past other patrons, all having their share of alcohol and frittering the hours away as they were seized with the fatal american need to have a good time. 

“Yo, Shane, the girl that was staring at us at the last bar is here.” Ryan called over the boisterousness of sports fans and minglers alike, Shane turned to see what he was talking about. 

Indeed, there was a familiar woman sitting at the bar, unaccompanied and looking like she would rather be anywhere else in the world than sitting at that bar, surrounded by Lakers fans whooping and hollering every 5-10 minutes.

Shane simply glanced at Ryan and shrugged, much more focused and relieving himself than some random woman giving them odd looks. 

They made it to the restroom in due time and took care of their business, exactly one urinal apart (leave it to Tj to make it weird). Shane managed to wash and dry his hands before Ryan even got around finishing, so he stood nearby waiting as Ryan washed his hands, watching the door and making conversation over the high pitch of the sink. 

“So you don’t think that chick at the bar counter was giving you the ‘fuck-me’ eyes then?” Ryan asked, shaking his wet hands off and adding to the general mess and mildew of the bathroom counter. He reached for a paper towel and Shane started to push the door open. 

“Ryan, I don’t know  _ what _ you would describe as ‘fuck-me’ eyes, but those were not it. She was looking at me like she wanted to take a baseball bat to the back of my skull. Clearly  _ not _ a Puppet History fan.”

“Really? She didn’t look  _ crazy _ . Just… really ready to fuck.” Ryan pulled the last paper towel out of the dispenser and swore under his breath, deciding to just pat his hands dry on his jeans. “Plus it’s been a while since you and Sara—”

“Look,” Shane interrupted before Ryan could remind him of how raw his heart had been for the last handful of months. “I appreciate you trying to be all wingman and shit, but all I care about is sinking a few more rounds, and then going home to curl up with Obi. I’m not interested in dating right now.”

“Alright, but I just don’t want you to be lonely. Not good for the soul, you know what I’m saying?” 

“Maybe for you, but for me, it’s just nice to be alone after a long relationship.” 

Shane made his way out of the bathroom, not wishing to to drag out the conversation any longer. He knew full well Ryan would poke and prod and push until Shane had just about as much as he could handle, so it was easier to distract him from the subject entirely. It was just that Ryan had little to no idea he was poking at a subject that was all too sore, and Shane preferred he not poke at all. Maybe he’d buy Ryan another beer just to shut him up. Perhaps he’d even crack a few basketball jokes.

Shane hadn’t expected to run into the woman they’d just been talking about, standing in front of the bathrooms in a mussy faux fur coat and gold evening gown. Her makeup was sloppy and dark, smeared around her eyes like a poor attempt at a smokey-eye, and there was a gold necklace in the shape of a snake hanging around her neck. Just under her arm was a large gold handbag, and sitting within that bag was a pomeranian, it’s hair done up in a neat little gold bow.

“Oh, shit— pardon me,” Shane mumbled, only to stumble forward when Ryan emerged from the bathroom and bumped straight into him. 

“You’re Shane and Ryan.” She stated, not so much asking as she was making an observation

“Uh, yeah. From Watcher, Unsolved? Haha, yep that’s us.” Shane said, trying to shrug off how weird it felt to run into fans in normal spaces. 

This was especially bizarre, the woman looked at the both of them like she was strung out on something extra strong, her green eyes dilated and dark. She especially didn’t look excited to see them, and it put Shane on edge.

“Oh, a doggie! Can I pet?” Ryan noticed the small animal before noticing anything slightly amiss about the situation. It barked at Ryan in true high-pitch fashion, like a parody of a parody of a pomeranian as soon as he got near, baring little needle like teeth that promised to be sharper than they looked. 

“No, he’s sensitive. I’ve been looking for the both of you.” The woman pulled her yappy dog back, and Ryan quickly retracted his hand, simply stunned at having been told ‘no’. The way she spoke sent a chill up Shane’s spine, monotone and sinister in a way that neither of them could quite put their finger on.

“Really? Well, I think we could take a quick photo if you want, but our friends are gonna start to wonder what became of us if we keep them waiting.” Ryan said, rubbing his neck, showing off his biceps the way Shane had seen him doing a thousand times before, and really left him feeling irritated. He rolled his eyes. 

The woman just looked at them and hissed. “I didn’t come here for photos, godling. I’m here for you.” 

Shane didn’t know what prompted him to do so, but he yanked Ryan back hard enough to send him stumbling into the bathroom door behind him. It was as if his entire body sensed a threat and reacted without hesitation. Just as well, too, neither of them expected the pomeranian to start breathing fire. 

“What the  _ fuck, _ dude!!” Ryan shouted, surmising Shane’s exact thoughts as they saw the leftover plume of smoke rise in the air, the wallpaper next to Ryan’s head smoldering. They watched, engrossed as the woman began to smolder and melt, becoming one with her annoying dog and morphing into some other horror entirely, like a scene right out of a horror film. The creature that stood before them, snarling and pawing at the ground, had the head and body of a lion, but it’s tail was that of an exotic snake, hissing and spitting venom. Somehow the little gold bow was the only thing that had stayed, barely clinging to a lopsided clump of mane.

“I’m not drunk enough for this.” Ryan said, quite sarcastically to himself. 

_ “Silence, Child of Riches. I’m going to enjoy this… it’s been eons since I was allowed to feast on the flesh of a half blood. Submit and I shall have mercy, killing you quickly...” _

“Hit the deck!” Shane shouted.

He dove at Ryan, sending them tumbling down the hall towards the main part of the establishment and just out of the way of the rancid column of green fire expelled from the mouth of the lion-creature. Shane quickly hauled them both up and out of the way of the next breath of flames, the creature followed hot on their heels, the weight of it’s hideous body shaking the ground.

As soon as the creature came out into the light, people quickly took notice. They got up and ran screaming from the building, others stopped to take photos and video until tables and glasses were overturned, or they were forced out with the droves of other patrons screaming about a bear in the bar. 

_ “Stop running, half blood, and this will be over much faster. You couldn’t run from me if you tried!” _

“I don’t fucking know what you’re talking about! And calling people half bloods is racist!” Ryan yelled. He hefted a barstool off the floor and threw it at the creature’s matted head. The creature yowled and shook its head back and forth, pawing at its face. The snake-tail, however, was unaffected as it watched the two of them dive behind the other side of the bar.

“What the hell is that thing?! It fucking talks!” Ryan demanded, as though Shane knew any better. 

“Look, I know just as much as you do right now dude, but we gotta figure something out or we’re both gonna get turned into human barbecue. Maybe I can distract it, you run out of the building!”

“What?! And leave you here all alone? With that  _ thing?! _ ” Ryan looked at Shane like he was crazy.

Shane didn’t get the chance to answer. A column of green fire blew just over their heads, and close enough that they could feel the heat singe the very tips of their hair. They ran in opposite directions, Shane picked up a glass and threw it as hard as he could at the creatures head. 

The creature swiveled and roared, Shane could smell the rot from the creature’s breath from across the room.  _ “I don’t have instructions for your head, psychopomp, but I’m just as keen tearing you apart as I am devouring that spoiled brat!”  _

“Yeah? Well come and get me you freak!” 

Now, Shane severely underestimated how fast he could run (which was not very fast), and how much faster than him this creature could run (much, much faster). Before he knew it, he found himself on his back with the beast of a creature on top of him, claws digging into his flesh, it’s hot rotten breath filling his lungs with a scent like sulfur, gasoline, and rotting meat. 

_ “It would be my profound pleasure…”  _ The creature snarled evilly down at Shane as if it were grinning, Shane grunted and squirmed under its weight with no luck of getting out. The claws digging into his flesh stung a million times worse than Obi’s little kitten claws, he could feel the hot trickle of blood staining his shirt.

A glass exploded against the head of the creature, Shane turned away as little shards rained down over him. The creature turned and growled at Ryan, who’d thrown the glass and had another at the ready in his hands. 

_ “You smug brat! I’ll tear the flesh from your face!!”  _ The creature turned and lunged at Ryan, Shane cried out as the creature pounced off of him. 

Ryan made the  _ come-hither _ motion with his hand, smirking like he had the upper hand. Shane knew that trick-up-his-sleeve look, he watched as Ryan splashed the creature with blue liquid from the glass. The creature shrieked and wailed, pawing at its eyes. 

“You just got windexed, you stupid bitch!” Ryan bellowed, and threw the glass on the ground triumphantly. A smart move, Shane supposed, knowing the bar probably kept cleaning supplies behind the counter.

“Ryan…” Shane tried to temper his friend’s enthusiasm, watching the snake/tail of the creature steady itself, locked on Ryan. 

“Oh yeah, who’s fucking bad, bitch?! ME!” 

“Ryan!” Shane finally caught his attention and pointed. “The fucking tail!”

“Oh shit,” Was all Ryan managed before the creature opened its jaws. Ryan managed to hop the bar before the green flames came hurtling after him. He quickly scrambled away… and straight for the corridor with the bathrooms from which they both came, a dead end. The monster loped after him, swaying this way and that, the eyes on its lion head still pinched shut.

“Fucking moron…” Shane grubbled. He snatched up a leg from the broken bar stool and ran after them, taking a quick note of the fire on the wall that was starting to spread. 

The creature caught Ryan by the leg with its massive paws, hauling him back to climb on top of on top of him like it had with Shane. It snarled, the snake’s head swaying back and forth, ready to strike. 

_ “You could have had this the easy way… and now you’ll suffer. Just as your cousins have before you. I feel no mercy for you, half blood. This is all fun and games to me.” _

“Get off!” Ryan grunted, the creature's teeth inches away from his throat. Rancid saliva dripped from it’s maw, making Ryan flinch as it dribbled down his skin. The snake head struck his leg, biting straight through his jeans and sinking into his flesh. Ryan howled in pain, bearing his teeth as the creature began kneading its claws into his shoulder. 

“Hey!” Shane snapped, fully aware that he might be too little, too late. The snake whipped around and Shane hit it square in the head, bristling at the sickening crack. The snake was heartier than Shane gave the creature credit for, because the creature turned and pounced before Shane could react. Shane landed flat on his back with all the air knocked out of his lungs, too stunned to even react. 

_ “Enough!!”  _ The creature bellowed, and raised a paw, ready to slash Shane’s throat. Closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst, ready to choke on his own blood. He hoped Ryan wouldn’t be too mad if he could make it out of there alive. It was comforting to at least know that Ryan would spend his days looking for his spirit wherever he could.

But the blow never came, the creature stayed frozen above him. Shane looked up to see a dark tendril piercing it’s massive paw, holding it in place. 

Shane heard heavy footsteps and looked around to see Ryan standing, holding himself upright against the wall despite having just been bitten by the snake-tail. He looked angrier than Shane had ever seen him in his life, his eyes felt like hot burning embers bearing down on that creature. Another tendril cut through the air from the shadows, striking the snake through the head. It wriggled around grossly before finally going limp, twitching occasionally.

_ “What is this?” _ The creature choked out, rendered blind by Ryan’s quick thinking with the windex and the dark lances holding it in place.

“Get off of my fucking friend.” Ryan spoke, and Shane felt it in his bones, the fear that washed over him and seeped closer with the encroaching shadows. 

Several more shadowy tendrils cut through the air, rapidly impaling the creature with enough force to cut right through to the other side. The beast choked out as organs wore impaled, green blood dripped from it’s dying body onto Shane’s face, staining his clothes and mixing with his own red blood.

Finally, the tendrils stopped coming, the beast was still, suspended above Shane, completely lifeless when they heard the evil cackling of the creature all around them. 

_ “You may have bested me this time. But your days are numbered, Child of Riches. My master will send horror, after horror, after horror, until you’re finally dealt with. Watch your back, your next encounter may very well be your last.” _

And then the carcass exploded, an evil green mist the same color as the creature’s fire rained down until it dissipated into the air, leaving no trace of the monster behind, even it’s blood disintegrated. The shadows then retreated like a dark wave pulling back from the shore until there was nothing more left of the encounter. 

Ryan groaned and crumpled, sinking to the floor, leaning against the wall. Shane quickly rolled over and clambered over to him, patting Ryan’s cheeks before his eyes could slide closed. 

“Ryan! Ryan, stay with me buddy. Tell me what’s wrong.” Shane helped sit him up, looking at bloody stains on his brand new t-shirt; he’d been so excited to wear that damn thing that night. 

“M’ leg feels like it’s on fire.” Ryan mumbled, his head lolling to the side like he didn’t have the energy to hold it up. He was covered in sweat, his forehead creased from the pain shooting up from his leg. 

Shane pulled his pant leg bag and sucked air in through his teeth at the sight of the wound. The bite looked awful, maroonish-black around the punctures like his skin was already dying. Dark lines spread slowly up his legs as the venom raced it’s way through his blood stream. 

“Gotta suck out the poison, Shane…” Ryan groaned again, breathing heavy. His skin was hot to the touch, already feverish. 

“I will not, because that doesn’t work, but we can get you to a hospital ASAP and see what the hell they can possibly do for this.” Shane worked his arm under Ryan and hauled him up, wincing at the wounds in his chest. “I don’t suppose you’re gonna tell me what all that shadow business was.”

“What fuggin’ shadow buis’ness? What the hell are you talking about?” Ryan clung to Shane and limped forward as best he could, which was not well, considering Shane was doing most of the walking and dragging Ryan along. 

“Forget it... I’m clearly seeing things. Maybe someone drugged my drink.” 

A loud popping noise from the bar got Shane’s attention, he looked to see the fire creeping up the wall and gathering momentum as it went, eating all too cheerfully through the bar’s cheap wallpaper. 

“This isn’t gonna work, hold on,” Shane knelt down so that Ryan could slip forward onto his back. Ryan seemed to get the memo and wrapped his arms around Shane’s neck, clinging for dear life, but his grip wasn’t all that tight. Shane hooked his arms under his legs before hitching Ryan forward, walking towards the exit as fast as he could, picking his steps carefully around the trashed furniture and broken plates. 

They made it out well before the flames could start to consume the building, Shane made it as far as the group of people standing outside the bar on the street before he tripped and fell, almost sending Ryan tumbling over his shoulder. Steven and Tj were waiting for them panic-stricken faces, running to help as soon as they saw them leave the building. 

“Jesus Christ, we were afraid you got mauled!” Steven said, helping Ryan off of Shane’s shoulders to sit him down. 

“Uh, it looks like you  _ did _ get mauled.” Tj corrected, looking at the large stains on the front of Shane’s shirt with big, watery-blue eyes. 

“Damn, Ryan... I will never question your fear of bears again.”

Ryan didn’t respond. He was staring at the asphalt with a blank expression, when suddenly he rolled over and vomited, all his pregame chips and pretzels coming back up undigested. 

“Yikes,” said Tj. “He didn’t mean it like that, Ryan.”

“He needs to go to the hospital, like ASAP.” Shane huffed, helping Ryan away from the puddle, taking off his flannel and folding it into a pillow for Ryan to lay his head on. “Just lay down buddy, we’re gonna get you some help.”

“I feel really cold, man...” Even as Ryan spoke, he was sweating profusely, shivering in the open air. 

Police quickly approached the small group and shooed the gawking bystanders away, one officer radioed for the ambulance that was already on its way before covering Ryan with a blanket from the trunk of one of the squad cars. 

“Can you tell us exactly what happened?” One of the officers asked Shane while he hovered or Ryan, who was sweating buckets on the asphalt. 

“It was… there was a lion! With a snake tail! A fire breathing lion!” Ryan croaked from where he lay, waving his hands in the air. It was fortunate he had an excuse to not sound like he was on acid, laying there in what another officer said was shock. 

Shane looked back at the officer and sighed warily. “It was like everybody said, a bear. Me and my friend just happened to be at the wrong end of the bar when it wandered in.” 

But even as the lie passed through Shane’s teeth, he didn’t believe it. He knew what he’d seen with his own two eyes. And he didn’t like the feeling in his stomach that said  _ this is only the beginning.  _


	2. Lotus Eaters Live in NorCal

Ryan couldn’t remember what happened after Shane had hauled him out of the bar on his back, he’d been way too focused on the shooting pain that was racing up and down his veins, making his heart feel like it was about to explode in his ribcage. 

His right leg felt like it was on fire, but the site of the puncture wounds had grown numb, and the numbness was creeping, ever so slowly, down to his toes and up his leg. Feverishly, Ryan bid goodbye to having any type of sports career thereafter, positive he was going to lose his leg. 

He slipped slowly under the hot, smothering blanket of a fever for what felt like forever. The visions he had ranged from weird Criminal Minds scenes, ones where that awful, smelly monster came barreling into a crime scene to eat poor Hodges, to commercials that blurred in between movies and dreams until Ryan didn’t know where one dream ended and the next one started. 

The fever seemed to come to a breaking point when Ryan had more or less been tripping through the first Matrix movie, right up until the pivotal red pill scene with Morpheus and Neo came about. It would have been nice to appreciate it, sober and aware, but everything was fuzzy, unfocussed, with dialogue sounding like gibberish. 

There was a ringing noise in his mind that he couldn’t ignore, it was getting louder and louder. Ryan groaned and turned his head away from the source, but the sound followed him, forcing him to suffer the initial swell of a migraine until, all at once, everything popped into a stunning clarity. The ringing distinguished and distilled itself into a rich, soothing voice.

_ “Ryan. _ Open your eyes, Ryan.”

The voice commanded him rather than asking, so Ryan did open his eyes, and found himself sitting in a large, red, weathered parlor chair. Sitting directly across from him, was none other than Morpheus himself. 

“You’re a tough nut to crack, I’ll give you that. I don’t usually have this much trouble appearing to people in their dreams, but I suppose one could blame the Chimera venom.”

Ryan simply blinked and looked around, it was the same dusty setting as the movie, the same greenish-blue hue and dingy walls. Even the table and glass of water sat between him and Morpheus. Only, it didn't feel real. His vision had that blurry quality that most dreams had, no matter how sharp and they were. Blurry, sharply contrasted, and always stuck in a dutch tilt for some reason.

“Is this… real?” Ryan finally asked. His heart beat so fast, and he could feel his palms sweating, though they didn’t look sweaty. He felt hot and sticky, like fabric was clinging to his body.

“In a way… Of course, I am the  _ real _ Morpheus. Not the movie Morpheus, although I will admit, I’ve always wanted to appear like this.”

“Real Morpheus?” Ryan asked, and the entity before him chuckled as though Ryan had said the most delightful thing in the world. 

“Ah, you half blooded heroes never fail to amuse me. Yes. I am Morpheus, bringer of pleasant dreams and premonitions.” 

Ryan knit his eyebrows together, staring into the black abyss of Lawrence Fishburne’s eyeglasses, but all he saw was his confusion staring back at him.“I don’t understand.”

“What do you know of the gods, child? Of Olympus? Of the Underworld?” Real Morpheus smiled coyly, studying Ryan with a gaze that Ryan could only feel. It made him want to shrink.

“You mean greek mythology? All that shit?” 

Lighting struck outside the window, sharpening Morpheus’s features, and the room shuddered with the thunder that followed. The god smiled brazenly, but wasn’t amused by Ryan’s comment. 

“That  _ shit _ is all very real. The creature that attacked you in the bar, what did it look like?”

“It looked like a lion with mange, and it had a large snake for a tail and it could breathe fire… green fire. But that sounds kind of ridiculous out loud. I thought my mind made all of that up.”

“Oh no, your mind did not deceive you this time, godling.” Morpheus crossed his legs and made himself comfortable in his chair before continuing. “That creature is called the Chimera. It used to have the additional head of a goat but, ah… it’s been a few centuries. Things change over time, as do the gods, creatures, and their appearances. I doubt you are aware as of yet, but you are the child of one, as is your friend currently watching over you while your body battles with a potent venom. A normal mortal would have died within hours, but you… have maybe a day or so left. I have something that can fix that, but I require something from you first.” 

“Wait, wait, wait….  _ Wait.” _ Ryan wheezed, trying to hide his amusement. “So you’re just going to  _ waltz _ into my dreams, tell me the fuckin’… greek gods are real, and then tell me I’m the child of one?! That is such total bullshit. But man, this is a weird fucking dream.” 

Ryan jumped as lighting struck outside the building again, much closer and brought with it a thunder sharp enough to rattle the table between them. Morpheus was no longer smiling, Ryan could feel the coldness in the god’s gaze and his own smile quickly fell.

“I wouldn’t anger a god if I were you, child. That’s how you find yourself in Tartarus, rolling a boulder up a hill for all eternity, only for it to come crashing back down. Or some other clever tedious task.”

Ryan sank down in his chair under the intense gaze of the god before him; he swallowed and then nodded, waiting to hear out what the god wanted from him. 

“Now then. I was sent by Nyx, she tells me that there is something amiss in the Underworld. She spoke of a prophecy, one we have known for some time, but it was only recently that certain...  _ events _ began pointing to this prophecy coming true. Due to… recent oaths upon certain ancient rivers that I am strictly bound by, I cannot tell you the prophecy myself. You must seek out Delphi on your own. Lord Dionysus knows of her location. He will gladly assist you with any task you may be presented with to the best of his ability.”

“And where is this… Dionysus person?” 

“That’s the other small snag in the tapestry; we believe he’s been… trapped. Set aside, seeing as how both he and Lord Hermes are the only two gods to frequently come and go from the Underworld. And Lord Hermes has not been summoned by Lord Hades in some time, and I’ve heard that Dionysus has failed to show at the Court of Olympus one too many times. He is not at home and it is  _ very much _ unlike him to just disappear without a word. He enjoys company far too much.”

“So.. you want me to find this Delphi person, whose location is only known by a Lord Dionysus, and you have no idea where Dionysus is either… kind of a herculean task, wouldn’t you agree?” Ryan shifted in the chair, waiting for lightning to strike again, but Morpheus simply chuckled. 

“I would not leave you without any leads, child. We sent some scouts looking for him, but they disappeared as well. But we believe his location is a club in San Francisco called  _ Blue Hydrophyte, _ the last location our scouts intended to search before they stopped communicating altogether. Start there, but approach with caution.”

“Okay, I guess I can work with that. What I don’t understand is why me? I’m just… a YouTuber. I’ll probably fuck this up.” 

“You sons of gods, always belittling yourselves. Just this, just that,  _ psh!  _ Do you think it’s any coincidence that the Chimera came after you? That anybody that may be directly connected to this prophecy is being set aside or disposed of? It indicates that you are a key facet in this situation. Someone doesn’t want any meddling, and whatever they are planning could turn into a disaster.”

“What if I can’t get him out? Or something else tries to attack me?” 

Morpheus chuckled again, looking out the window. 

“You haven’t much of a choice if you want to continue life as you know it. You have great power from your parent that you’re barely able to harness, but I’m sure if the situation calls for it, you’ll be able to harness it. In any case, I advise you to take your tall companion, he’s a clever fellow. Two heads are usually better than one. Come now, you don’t have much time left.” 

Morpheus pulled from his coat the square pill case, Ryan watched intently as he tumbled the contents out into his hand before tucking the case back inside his long, dark coat. Instead of two brightly colored pills, he offered only one; honey colored and shining with a warm glow in the palm of his hand. 

“Take this, and you will wake up shortly. It will counteract the Chimera venom. After a few hours rest, you will wake up good as new. And then go to San Francisco. Find Dionysus. And then go to the Oracle Delphi. Your questions will yield answers in due time.”

Ryan reluctantly reached out to take the pill. It was warm against his fingertips, glowing like it contained the only light in the room and a small life of its own. Ryan was about to put the pill to his lips when he paused, glancing at Morpheus. 

“Which god is one of my real parents then, if all of this is true?”

Morpheus simply smiled. 

“It is not my place to say. Though I’m sure Lord Dionysus may tell you when you find him. He’s a chatty fellow, many secrets come to him through one grape vine or another.”

Ryan nodded, disappointed. He slipped the pill into his mouth nonetheless, and washed it down with a cautious sip from the glass of water that was sitting before him. 

“Good. It’s been a pleasure, Ryan Bergara. Do give Lord Dionysus my well wishes when you see him. I’d say ‘see you later’, but as any hero from years gone by may tell you… you don’t want to see me in your dreams again. Good luck, and may the god’s blessings be upon you.” 

With a single flourish of Morpheus’s hand, the world around Ryan fell away and he was falling into an inky black abyss. He felt as though he were falling, he fell for forever until finally— he opened his eyes. 

He was greeted with a standard hospital room, grey walls and salt and pepper ceiling tiles. The heart monitor next to him beeped steadily with his own heart beat. His gown clung to his skin, soaked through with a fresh layer of sweat. Shane sat in the chair nearby, watching the TV intently as the end of the Matrix played out on the hospital's television set. 

Shane quickly turned as Ryan sat up, touching his own hands to be sure they were real, and then looking again at the television screen. 

“Hey, buddy…” Shane said softly, standing up and approaching him gently, like Ryan would startle if he moved too suddenly. “Whats… what’s the last thing you remember?”

Ryan didn’t answer, realizing his leg was no longer in agonizing pain. He quickly pulled off the covers and peeled back the dressings before Shane could stop him, only to see no evidence of a terrible bite succumbing to necrosis. Just smooth, healthy skin and two little scars to prove the whole encounter had actually happened.

Ryan looked up at Shane, searching his eyes for the real meaning of Shane’s question. He could see the concern at the surface, disbelief at the sight of Ryan’s fully healed leg, but Ryan had known Shane long enough to identify the real thoughts hiding behind the hazel surface, deep down in the darkness of his pupils where Shane kept them hidden. 

“That was _not_ a bear… Tell me right now Shane, I _know_ you don’t believe that thing was a bear. We both saw the same thing, it was talking and breathing fucking _fire.”_

Shane froze, quiet, carefully choosing his next words. He finally sighed and looked at the floor, defeated by what he couldn’t rationalize. “No, it wasn’t. I did a lot of frantic googling while you were asleep. That thing was a monster straight out of Greek mythology, a chi—”

“Chimera, I know.” Ryan interrupted him. They stayed there for a moment, in silence, before Ryan finally spoke up. “I need your help. We have to go to San Francisco.”

———

It was easier to pack up for an impromptu trip to San Francisco than either of them thought it would be. Ryan’s family of course came to fuss over him at the hospital, but, some way or another, he managed to convince his family he’d only suffered some minor injuries and dehydration. The proof was in the pudding, hardly a scratch on him, he now felt better than he’d ever felt in his life. 

And good Old Steven Lim had insisted they stay home for a week to recuperate; neither Ryan nor Shane needed to be told twice, no argument from them whatsoever. So they packed up a couple days' clothes, Shane went right to Ryan’s for the night, they piled into Ryan’s Prius, and set out for the city of San Francisco. 

For the first couple of hours, Shane researched every little detail from Ryan’s dream that he could while Ryan drove, they existed in a quiet peacefulness until Ryan finally spoke up. 

“What happens if we go to this place and… there's nobody there by that name. Or it doesn’t even exist at all, and we went to San Francisco for no reason whatsoever?” 

“Then we check ourselves into a mental facility and worry about what kind of mental illness we’re about to be diagnosed with.” Shane said as he sifted through tabs on tabs of greek bestiaries and thoroughly written papers on greek religion and lore. “Look, you know me. I’m not one to go out on a limb if something smells like a pile crap, save for unsolved--that’s just the show. But I saw that monster, you saw it. Some of my  _ hair _ is still singed from the fire. I saw your snake bite, I literally thought you were going to need an amputation from how bad it looked. And then it suddenly healed? Just like that? For once, I feel like this is deeper than it is.”

“The god in my dream, Morpheus. He gave me this little gold pill, he said it would cure it. I guess it did, although I have no idea what it was.” 

“Mhm, Morpheus.” Shane nodded, smiling pleasantly. “The god of pleasant dreams, he brought premonitions and visions to heroes in many stories. The fatherless child of Nyx, who is the personification of night. We get the name for morphine from his name.” 

“Why do you know so much of this Greek mythology stuff anyway?” Ryan asked, the question came out a little ruder than he meant it to. 

“I always liked reading about it. I had a bunch of books and encyclopedias as a kid. The Odyssey is one of my favorite stories. Did you ever read it?” 

“Once,” Ryan snorted. “In high school. I don’t think I even finished it. I probably used SparkNotes and handed in the final paper and got like a C+ on it or something.” 

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?” 

“Because I didn’t care about reading boring Greek literature in high school. I was worried about my next basketball game or Call of Duty match.”

“That checks out. Man, the way we were such opposites in high school…” Shane laughed to himself, shaking his head and looking out the passenger side window. “Incredible.”

“I would have shoved you in a locker.” Ryan said, grinning to himself. 

“No you wouldn’t, because I was already a college freshman when you were a high school freshman.”

“Nah,” Ryan said, adjusting his rearview mirror. “I would have found a way. Probably would have kidnapped you from your dork classes like we used to steal the opposing team's mascot uniform.” 

“It’s a wonder you even made it to college without a felony charge then.” 

“It was all in good fun. Except for that time I egged that house…” 

“You egged a house??” Shane blurted out, turning to look at Ryan in astonishment.

“Yeah, on Halloween one night. It was my friend’s ex-girlfriend’s house, he caught her cheating on him with someone from another school. It was just a revenge prank.”

“Jesus, Ryan… the most fun I ever had was getting drunk in my friend’s dad’s cornfields.”

“And that’s why I would have shoved you in a locker.”

Shane chuckled at that, but chose not to respond. So they rode in silence for a little while, listening to the  _ Interstellar _ soundtrack, until a sign saying ‘San Francisco, 120 miles’ popped up. Ryan shifted uncomfortably in his seat, his butt was starting to fall asleep, and his right leg was beginning to cramp from hovering just above the gas pedal.

“Did you google the place yet? I need to stop for gas soon, we can get food too, if you want. But I want to go right to the building as soon as we get to San Francisco.”

“What’s the matter? No site seeing for the Bergmeister? Haven’t you ever been to Alcatraz?” 

“Well, yeah, I kind of want to sightsee but… We’re on a mission here! Don’t get distracted, focus, focus!” 

Ryan snapped in front of Shane’s face for emphasis, Shane just laughed and pushed his fingers away. 

“I’m joking, I’m joking. Yeah, I googled the place.  _ Blue Hydrophyte _ is a night club in SoMa. Looks like there’s a… medium-ish entry fee, but from the photos it looks like it’s a casual place to party. Now why would Dionysus, the god of wine and festivity be  _ trapped _ in a nightclub? For months? That just doesn’t make sense to me. I can definitely see him going there voluntarily, but I can’t imagine what’s holding a literal god there against their will.” 

“I don’t know. Morpheus seemed to be reluctant to tell me a lot of information… which makes me really nervous. Oh god, I hope there's not another monster in there.” Ryan’s eyes grew wide. He watched the road in silence for a moment, Ryan gripped his steering wheel hard enough to make his knuckles turn white, before he glanced at Shane. “Should we turn around and forget this whole thing?” 

Shane hummed for a moment before responding, watching the sun set over the horizon. 

“No. We’re only two hours away. Lets ride it out and see what we find. If nothing else, we go to a kick ass club, stay the night, then go home and get some professional help.”

“Okay.” Ryan sighed, letting most of the tension seep out of his joints. “What is a hydrophyte, anyway?” 

“I dunno, I can google it.” Shane tapped his query into the search bar and read for a moment, finally making a little affirmative noise. “A hydrophyte is a plant that grows in water, either submerged, emergent, or floating. Like lily pads and lotuses— oh fuck.”

“What? What is it?” Ryan glanced between Shane and the road as his heart quickened, while Shane hastily sifted through his tabs. 

“I know what's keeping Dionysus there. He doesn’t  _ want _ to leave, because he’s been eating lotuses.”

“Okay,  _ and?” _ Ryan asked, growing rather exasperated. As if Shane thought lotuses were supposed to mean something to him. “What do flowers have to do with anything?

“Listen, in part of the Odyssey, Odysseus’s ship gets blown off course to an island with human inhabitants. They didn’t attack, but instead, gave some of his crew lotus fruits, or flowers, depending on the interpretation. The lotuses were a narcotic that made the men apathetic, and then they refused to return to the ship, so Odysseus had to drag those men back to the ship and force them to fast until they got over the lotuses' effect. I don’t think  _ Blue Hydrophyte  _ is just a club… it’s a den of lotus-eaters,  _ literally _ . Dionysus is stuck in there because he’s been eating these lotuses and he’s forgotten about the outside world.”

“So… don’t eat any flowers from the club then?”

“Don’t eat or drink  _ anything _ from the club. They’ll probably offer it up for free, we have to be really vigilant. I gotta admit though… that’s a really clever trap for a god like Dionysus. His whole patronage is grape vine and wine cultivation, feasts and indulgence, legendary orgies…”

“Orgies?!” Ryan shouted, a little too loudly for his car. 

“Oh… this dude. You have no idea. He spent his young adulthood cursed by the queen of the gods to wander all over the greater mediteranean area for being the bastard child of her husband with a human woman. He spent a lot of it teaching grape and wine cultivation, and anybody who refused his knowledge, he drove insane. Literally whole cities. He was always accompanied by this large group of satyrs and nymphs who were, like, his devotees. He’s _ the _ original party animal. He makes your beer-pong nights look like box wine with spaghetti dinner on a Tuesday night.”

“Great, so he’s not gonna want to leave. Cool. This is totally a fool's errand.”

“Not necessarily. If we can figure out a way to maybe… trick him into leaving or something. He’ll get over the lotus effects eventually. We definitely shouldn’t try to force him out…”

“Because he’ll drive us insane?” 

“Uh… best case scenario, yeah. Worst case he makes everyone  _ else _ insane, and they kill us in the process. Did I mention he’s the patron god of madness too, or no?” 

“You were very kind to omit that small detail, so thank you.” Ryan said through gritted teeth.

“Well let’s both take a deep breath, calm down for a second. We just gotta worry about getting there for now. Then we can scope out the joint, and come up with a plan.” 

“Okay.” Ryan said a little reluctantly. “That sounds like a plan for a plan.”

And so Ryan took a deep breath, gathered his scattered thoughts, and put on his blinker for the next exit. 

———

“Christ, my legs feel like jelly.” Shane grumbled as crawled out of Ryan’s car. “Why is your car so damn small, anyway?” 

“Don’t complain to me, pal. I said you could move the seat back if you wanted to.” Ryan said, but was secretly amused at having watched Shane clamber out of such a small vehicle. 

“I  _ did _ move the seat back. At some point, the seat  _ stops. _ ”

“Have you tried not being 6’4?” Ryan asked. Shane just shook his head and waved his hand dismissively at Ryan’s tacky little grin. “I’m just saying, you could leave some inches for the rest of us.”

“You’re a menace, Bergara.” Shane muttered under his breath as he stretched. 

Ryan made his way around the car and locked the door, joining Shane on the sidewalk. “As long as I live under 6 feet tall, I will always give you shit.” 

“That’ll be a long life of coveting something you’ll never have.” Shane shot back easily, enjoying the little frown crossed Ryan’s face. 

“Whatever, squatch. Let's do what we came to do.”

They made their way down the SoMa street, it wasn’t busy on that weekday night, but was still full of plenty of pedestrians, all walking up and down the sloping streets. The sun had already set on the San Francisco landscape, but the night was alive with the electric glow of neon signs, buzzing street lamps, and shop front windows that were littered between various warehouse businesses. 

“So, we’re going to pay the entry fee, go in, scope out the building, try and find Dionysus, and then… come up with the rest of the plan.” Ryan clarified, tailing behind Shane on the edge of the sidewalk.

“And under  _ no circumstances _ do we eat or drink anything, even if it’s free.  _ Especially _ if it’s free. If I have to drag you out of there, I am never going to let you live it down. I  _ will _ get it on video.”

“Eat everything, got it.” Ryan said, cheekily.

He snorted as Shane rolled his eyes, pushing past a group of people.

They finally came upon the club about a block and a half up the street from where they’d parked. It didn’t look like anything special, it appeared to be just another nightclub built into the aging facade of an old warehouse, with a large, blue neon lotus marking the building. There wasn’t much of a line out the door, which did feel odd to both men, but they joined it nonetheless with their cash fee in hand, ready to go. 

“I’m really fucking nervous, Shane.” Ryan whispered, just loud enough for Shane to hear. 

“Just keep your cool, man, we’re almost inside.” Shane said, but Ryan could tell he looked just as nervous as Ryan felt.

The bouncer at the door looked like a normal dude, albeit bored, like he had something better to do and somewhere better to be. He accepted Ryan and Shane’s payment without any fuss and allowed them into the building without a word. They could feel the rhythmic pulse of the club's music as soon as they entered the first door, the second door led them straight into the main floor of the club, filled with clustered modernist seating and tables, all surrounding a lit dance floor.

It was massive, bigger on the inside than it was on the outside, and definitely felt a little sinister since neither Ryan nor Shane’s agenda was to party. It was filled with a number of people, some dressed more casual than others. All of them however were in a pleasant mood, mingling, eating, drinking, and dancing together without a clue as to where they really were, or what was really going on. 

“How the hell are we supposed to find him in this… It’ll take hours to search.” Ryan looked up at the balconies of patrons, either leaning over the railing or sitting in section chairs, carrying on with delightful conversations and drinking their fill of alcohol. 

“Maybe…” Shane said, but he was looking up at some VIP seating on the third level balcony, watching a woman in a sparkly evening dress wave at someone down below. “But I have a feeling we should check up there first.” 

“Welcome to  _ Blue Hydrophyte. _ ” They were cut off by a server dressed simply in a plain tshirt with a blue lotus insignia on the pocket, balancing a tray of glasses full of pale blue liquid in his left hand. “Can I interest you gentlemen in our signature drink? First glass is on the house.” 

Ryan stalled, looking at the tray with wide eyes, but Shane simply smiled and accepted one of the glasses, grabbing one for Ryan as well, placing it in his hands like he hadn’t just adamantly insisted on not eating or drinking  _ anything _ . 

“Of course, thank you. And pardon me, you look like a busy fellow. Me and my associate here are looking for the VIP seating. You see, we’re the execs of a large production company in L.A., Watcher Entertainment. I don’t know if you’ve heard of it— but that’s neither here nor there. We’re meeting with some fellow associates from another production company, they’d heard such marvelous things about your fine establishment, and we just happened to be in town tonight so we thought, what the hell, why not?”

The waiter didn’t so much as blink, simply pointing to a set of stairs, marked with a big sign that said ‘VIP Seating’. “Not a problem, to the left and up the stairs, third floor. If you need anything, simply grab the attention of a staff member wearing a blue lotus shirt. Enjoy your time.” 

“Thank you.” Shane said, and turned on his heel, walking towards the stairs with a purpose Ryan had never seen him walk with before. 

“What the  _ hell _ was that?” Ryan hissed, catching up with Shane as fast as he could without spilling his drink. “I thought you said ‘no eating or drinking’.” 

“Relax, I was bluffing. Look,” Shane took Ryan’s drink from him and left both glasses sitting at an empty table. “We gotta act like nothing is suspicious. Everybody makes their company seem like a bigger deal than it is, and most VIP sections at clubs aren’t that expensive for reservations. We need to pretend like we want to be here, or people are going to start to notice something’s out of place, and I don’t want to find out what happens if they do notice. Now come on, take a chill pill, and let's go check out the upstairs balcony.”

“Fine…” Ryan huffed. “I’m just nervous. Like, what are we going to do when we find him?”

“I don’t know yet, bud. Let's just focus on finding him.” 

And then Shane started up the steps two at a time, leaving Ryan to tag along after him, taking the steps one at a time instead of two. Shane reached the top stairwell before Ryan, by the time Ryan caught up with him, he was huffing, and out of breath.

“God, I always fucking hated cardio… What are you looking at?” Ryan took the final few steps to the top and looked to see what had so suddenly hypnotized Shane. 

“Ryan, buddy... I think I found him.” 

Ryan looked across the floor, and there, he saw precisely what Shane was staring at. 

Indeed, there was a man, sitting and laughing boisterously, surrounded by other beautiful men and women at a large table. Clutched in his hand was a large wine glass that swirled everytime he moved, but he was far too grateful to ever let the glass spill. However, it was the wide smile with large, bright teeth and plush lips, the dark hair that tumbled over the top of his head in soft, natural curls, the familiar bone structure and deep brown, sparkling eyes that truly had Shane hypnotized. 

The man was the spitting image of Ryan, if not a few years older, slightly taller, and more built than Ryan himself. His skin was slightly darker, with a warm, healthy glow to it that seemed to both reflect days spent in the sun and a radiance that shone from him naturally. 

“Holy shit…” Ryan mumbled to himself, just as hypnotized as Shane.

“He’s so hot, I cannot stop staring…” Shane whispered, unknowingly out loud. 

A sharp twinge of jealousy cut through Ryan, breaking his enchantment. He looked at Shane like he couldn’t believe the words coming out of Shane’s mouth. Finally, he huffed and dragged Shane by the arm back down the stairs, not even sure  _ why _ he was so jealous all of the sudden, he just refused to stand there while Shane gaped at someone else. Of course Shane would find him hot, Dionysus was a literal god among men. Even Ryan couldn’t help looking, but it was more like looking in a mirror of idealism than anything else. 

“Hey! Damn, that hurts. You’re gonna open my wounds back up, not everybody gets a fancy little magic pill when they get scratched to hell.” He pulled his arm out of Ryan’s strong grip and followed him down the stairs, slightly irritated. “What’s the big idea?”

“Look, we found him, we know he’s here. Now  _ what’s _ the  _ plan? _ ” 

“Don’t get short with me, Bergara. You said you wanted  _ my _ help, I’m just here for the ride,  _ remember?” _

Ryan crossed his arms, looking anywhere but Shane’s face, but he couldn’t stay mad at him for very long. Shane was right, as per usual.

“Fine, whatever. I’m sorry. Look, I’m just stressed out about this whole thing, and finding him just stressed me out even more. I feel like walking up to him to talk isn’t an option. Did you see? He was wearing freaking Armani.”

“Do you even know what Armani looks like?” Shane asked, putting his hands on his hips like he himself knew what Armani suits looked like. He glanced around and saw a few of the staff sparing looks in their direction, and they didn’t seem too pleased to see two patrons arguing, clearly not under any sort of influence. “Nevermind. Let’s go outside and talk. I think our jig is just about up.” 

Ryan barely had a chance to catch two servers whispering to each other, looking directly at them. Shane grabbed Ryan by the wrist and pulled him down the second flight of stairs before Ryan could gawk any longer. They quickly walked towards the exit, slipping through the door before any servers could turn around and catch them, barely squeaking out of the building without an encounter.

“If you have any ideas rolling around in that large skull of yours, it would be great if you could share them,” Ryan hissed as he followed Shane down the dark entry hall. Shane didn’t answer, instead he pulled the door to the front entrance open forcefully. Instantly, they were blinded with bright, warm light. 

Ryan held his hand up to cover his eyes as they walked out slowly, squinting until his eyes adjusted. 

It was early morning, the sun was low in the east, and the sidewalk had barely begun to fill with pedestrians and tourists alike, milling past Ryan and Shane as they stood disoriented in the middle of the sidewalk. The bouncer and the velvet rope were gone, the club looked like it was closed for the day until it would reopen later at night, despite the fact that they had just been inside the club at full evening swing. 

“What the hell…” Ryan muttered as he looked around, watching cars drive past on a morning commute. 

“It’s 8:23 am. We went in the club around ten last night, right?” Shane asked, glancing at his watch. 

“Yeah… but we couldn’t have been in there for more than 15 minutes, tops.” Ryan stepped aside to avoid being run over by a cyclist and then looked up at Shane. Shane simply slid his phone back into his pocket, and glanced at the people milling past them.

“We were in there for eleven hours...” Shane sighed, running his hand through his hair, before looking at Ryan with the same bewilderment in his eyes. “Fuck it, man. Wanna get breakfast?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, Chapter 2! Man, I can't stop writing this thing, it's like my head is exploding with ideas. I have half of chapter 3 drafted already, I'm hoping to have it out by the end of this week, but I need catch up on some class work first. 
> 
> The next chapter we get some answers to Ryan's questions, and of course, we _really_ get to meet Dionysus.
> 
> As always, let me know what you guys think, I really loved the comments on the last chapter. <3


	3. Bacon, Eggs, and God-Strength Ipecac

“This is the best idea we’ve had so far,” Ryan said as covered his hash browns in hot sauce. “God damn it, I love breakfast.” 

Shane hummed in full agreement, burdened with the heavy choice of which syrup he was going to pour on his pancakes. 

They’d shacked up in the far, quiet corner of a diner at the end of the block, just close enough that they could still see the club. They watched, waiting to see if anybody would come or go from the front entrance. But nobody did, and its appearance remained quiet and empty. 

“So…” Ryan started after shoveling a generous forkful of pancake into his mouth. “We go in. It’s around 10 o’clock at night. Spend fifteen, twenty minutes scoping out the joint, looking for Dionysus, find a guy that looks vaguely similar to me, assume it’s him. We leave, and it’s fucking morning. What do you make of that?”

“It’s fucking bizarre, is what it is. After this whole weekend though… I can't say I’m surprised. And vaguely nothing, the man looked exactly like you, Ryan. Could have been your brother or something.” 

“I wonder if Dionysus is my real dad…” Ryan said wistfully, looking at the building. 

Shane froze, quite comically with the blueberry syrup dwarfed by his hand, looking at Ryan with a nonplussed expression. He set the pitcher down harder than necessary, and then wiped his hand off on his napkin. “You have something you’d care to share with the class, Mr. Bergara?” 

“Oh  _ fuck _ … I’m sorry. I didn’t want to tell you yesterday because it sounded so ridiculous, even for me. Morpheus said that you and I both… are apparently, godly offspring or something, like we’re children of the gods. But he wouldn’t tell me who. I definitely laughed at him and he didn’t find that so charming, but it just sounded so… far fetched. After seeing that guy in the club though, I’m not so sure it’s ridiculous anymore.”

Shane stared at his pancakes with his fork seized in his hand for a good long moment, wearing an expression that Ryan didn’t recognize. In Shane’s eyes, however, there was a bit of sadness in a muddled mix of emotions… and a trace of relief. 

“Look, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you yesterday, but would  _ you _ have believed me? I didn’t even believe it.”

“I’m not upset with you, Ry, it’s just… man, that explains a lot _.” _

Shane slowly put his fork down. He wasn’t hungry anymore, wishing he had a waffle in front of him instead. He looked at his pancakes like they were the task on his to-do list that he didn’t feel like dealing with.

“Sorry to drop a bomb like that on you in the middle of a diner, big guy.” Ryan said, taking a sip from his mug.

“Well… it is what it is. It’s fine, let's just move on.” And then Shane sighed and took a sip of his own coffee, brushing the subject matter off like he was done with it for the time being. 

“Oh bullshit, you’re gonna pretend like it doesn’t make you wonder? Who your real parent is? And which parent you’re _ not _ related to? What the fuck happened that made us exist?!”

“Of course I wanna fuckin’ know! But what am I gonna do about it now? I don’t exactly have recent photos of the Olympians to do a compare and contrast with. We’ve got a more pressing issue at hand, so lets focus.” 

“Right, sorry. So how are we going to get him out of there? Good old fashion kidnapping? Knock him out? I wonder how hard it is to get those kinds of drugs.” 

Shane shook his head quickly, slicing through his spongy cakes with ease. “Uh, probably easier than you think, and no, that’s a bad idea. We’re talking about an immortal god here. If anything I’ve read is true, then he doesn’t function the same way me and you do. They don’t have blood flowing through their veins like you and me. Plus, if knocking him out  _ would  _ work, we’d have to carry him out and I don’t think we could lift him. At least I know I can’t, I could barely carry you on my back. Not to mention, all the staff would notice, and where would we even take him? Your car? A parking garage? A fucking hotel?! We’ll look like lunatics.”

Ryan didn’t even get the chance to retort; an unfamiliar voice spoke from the booth directly behind Ryan, loud enough for them to hear. 

“If you seek to retrieve Lord Dionysus, I have something that can help you godlings.” __

The boys froze, Ryan mid sip with his coffee, and Shane with his fork in his mouth. Neither one of them noticed that someone had sat in the booth right behind them and had been listening to their entire conversation, which probably shouldn’t have been had in public in the first place. 

The stranger got up and rounded the table, standing before Ryan and Shane. He looked extremely apologetic, with his head hung low, nodding to both men as soon as he made eye contact with them.

“Can we help you?” Shane finally said, rather agitated and starting to show it. 

“I hope so. My sincerest apologies for listening in on your conversation. I followed you two here after I saw you leave  _ Blue Hydrophyte. _ I haven’t seen anybody walk out of there since my Lord Master went in, so I knew you two were different from the other patrons. I see it now, you’re both godlings.”

“And you are?” Ryan repeated the original question, just as annoyed as Shane. 

“Oh forgive me,” The stranger said. He pulled up a chair from a nearby table and made himself comfortable, much to Ryan and Shane’s chagrin. “My name is Komos, I’m Lord Dionysus’s—” 

“You’re his cupbearer… in the stories. You’re a satyr.” Shane interrupted, taking note of the stranger's wild, curly hair and ears tapered off into a point instead of rounding off like most human’s, barely hiding under his thick, brown tresses. He had neat facial hair that was fuller than what either Shane or Ryan were capable of growing, and pale green eyes the same color of vine leafs. He looked young, especially young for being thousands of years old, sitting before them wearing a casual blazer, neatly pressed slacks, and an offwhite button down covered in a pattern made up of tiny pinecones.

Komos nodded, impressed with Shane’s knowledge. “I didn’t know that anybody knew my name anymore. Yes, I  _ was _ Lord Dionysus’s cupbearer. I’m still wholly devoted to the dear god, bless his name, but I’m more of what you’d call a personal assistant now. I’ve gotten myself into a mess, but I overheard you two talking about getting him out, I figured the gods must have heard my prayers and sent you. Please, I’d like to help in any way that I can.”

“We were joking earlier, we weren’t going to drug him,” Shane began to backpedal upon realizing who they were talking to, his whole demeanor changing like the flip of an obol. 

Ryan quickly nodded in agreement. 

“Yeah, that was a joke. A very not funny joke, we wouldn’t consider drugging an immortal, no sir.” 

“Please,” Komos held up a hand to stop their backpedaling and chuckled. “It’s quite alright. This is a dire situation, you cannot be blamed for considering dire methods. It’s my fault he’s stuck in there anyway.”

“Care to... enlighten us on what happened?” Ryan said, rubbing his own ear while he tried as hard as he could not to stare at the satyr’s ears. 

“I suppose somebody should know. It was a very strange night, I remember what happened but it was like I wasn’t in control of myself. Almost as if I was being compelled by someone much more powerful than me, but I don’t know by who or what. All I know is that I felt angry, I felt this red blind rage for my master that I had never felt before. I got him drunk, extremely drunk one night. See, he resides in Napa, but sometimes he likes to go to other cities and party, so he and his group of devotees had me drive them here to San Francisco.”

“I drove him to the club once he and his party were drunk, they’d been bouncing from nightclub to nightclub. I didn’t know where I was going until we got there. Some of the staff, lotus-eaters I’m sure you’ve figured out, were waiting for me at the front entrance, as if they knew I would be arriving. They took my Lord Master and helped him into the building…”

“When I was of sound mind, I realized what I had done, I was horrified. I panicked, I wept, I tried to go retrieve him but the leader of the den had me kicked out, violently on more than one occasion. All this happened a month ago, and he hasn’t come back out. And I can’t go in, the staff refuse to let me through, otherwise I would have dealt with the situation on my own by now.” 

The satyr looked morose, looking down at the table as if it had just happened the day before. 

“I should have been stronger for my Lord Master, but I know I’ve let him down. I fear what he may do to me when he comes back out, but I fear more the wrath of the Olympians if he doesn’t turn up soon.”

“Why didn’t you go get help?” Ryan asked. “If the gods are that angry about it then, can’t they just… snap their fingers and pull him out?

“Oh lord, can you imagine what they would do to me? If I went wandering up to Olympus asking for help because I lost my master to a den of lotus-eaters? No, the thought is paralyzing.”

Ryan looked at Shane and cleared his throat, like he was asking if the satyr’s sad story was worth trusting without saying it outloud. Shane simply blew air out of his cheeks, staring at the table.

“That is a most unfortunate situation. Listen… Komos… I don’t know how to say this without sounding rude but how do we know we can trust you? It’s nothing personal, it’s just… we kind of dealt with a chimera a couple days ago, like you do, you know how it is. Still fresh in the mind and all that.”

“I’m terribly sorry to hear that, such an awful creature to encounter. But perhaps, going back to your question, I should be asking you the same thing. Why are  _ you  _ interested in speaking with Lord Dionysus? It’s not every day that godlings drop out of the sky. You were sent here by someone. Who?” Komos sat up a little straighter, looking between the two of them.

Ryan looked to Shane again, asking for permission that he didn’t need to tell the satyr their own weird little story. Shane nodded minutely, and then looked at his plate to poke at his cold pancakes. 

“I had a dream.” Ryan said and pushed his own half finished plate away. “Morpheus came to me while I was trying to recover from Chimera venom. He said there was a prophecy that I need to hear. He told me to find Dionysus, that he knows the location of someone named Delphi.” 

“The Oracle at Delphi…” Shane corrected quietly, Ryan shot him a look as if to say  _ shut the fuck up, Shane _ . 

The satyr nodded knowingly. 

“His Lordship certainly does know the location of the Oracle. It’s a closely guarded secret, only a few of the Olympians know where and in whom she resides. There was a problem for a while where prophecies kept falling into the wrong hands, so the court agreed to hide the Oracle and that the location would only be known by a trusted few. Dionysus is one of those few.” 

“Why him? I thought prophecy and divination fell under Apollo’ responsibility.” Shane asked. He scratched his chin before his head on the palm of his hand.

“I cannot say, other than it has to do with Lord Dionysus’s proximity to the Oracle.” 

“So it’s close by then?” Ryan perked up.

“I can’t say.”

“Of course not…” Shane mumbled. “Children of the gods; always have to figure things out for themselves, doing the dirty work. They don’t call it a herculean task for nothing.”

“Perhaps,” Komos stated bluntly. “But that doesn’t mean the deities are not willing to offer their help. Speaking of which, take this. I can smell your wounds from your encounter with the chimera, one of them must have opened recently.” Komos held out a small gold pill to Shane. It glittered cheerfully in the morning light, casting little gold reflections on Komos’s palm. 

Ryan forced down the coffee in his mouth and pointed at the gold pill. “That’s the same pill Morpheus gave me in my dream!” 

“It’s condensed nectar in a fast release capsule. A curious little invention from Lord Asclepius. Lord Dionysus uses it for his hangovers, so I am always in supply. Please, take it. Your injuries will heal within the hour.” 

Shane reluctantly took the pill from Komos’s hand, glanced at Ryan, before he finally shrugged and swallowed the pill, washing it down with a large gulp of coffee. Komos seemed nice enough, if not overly formal and nervous like a startled rabbit.

“I’m just gonna gloss over the fact that you can  _ smell _ my injuries; you mentioned you have something that can help us get Dionysus out of the Lotus Eater’s Den. He’s got information we need and me and my friend here are a little pressed for time.” 

“Yes, yes, of course, forgive me for wasting valuable time.” 

Komos reached for an inner pocket on his blazer and retrieved a simple vial of clear liquid, setting it on the table. 

“So here is the deal: everything consumed in the club has been laced with a narcotic, the Lotus Eaters extract oils from the lotus fruit and add it to everything _. _ The den is enchanted so that time feels like it’s crawling by while you’re in there, that’s why when you walked out, it was morning. Lord Dionysus has been consuming drink from that establishment, so he’s stayed apathetic and content, unknowing that time is ticking by. To him, it might feel like it’s been a few hours. It’s impossible to tell inside.”

_ “This _ ,” Komos tapped the vial. “Is an emetic, about ten times as strong as human emetics. It can dissolve a human stomach in a few hours, so don’t… make a curious stupid decision I know you humans are prone to. It will make him ill, ill enough to vomit within a short time span. He won’t want to be seen getting sick, so he’ll excuse himself from the group he’s with, and that’s how you can get him alone. Wait for him to finish, and then approach him. Since he’ll have no more of the lotus narcotic in his stomach, he’ll burn through whatever’s left in his ichor within a few minutes. Approach him with caution after, I must warn. He’s a fickle character when he’s disoriented and confused.”

“And how do we get him to swallow it?” Ryan asked. He picked up the vial to inspect it, watching an air bubble go up and down inside the tiny tube.

Komos smiled slyly, as though the answer were obvious. 

“Lord Dionysus will never turn down free wine. My recommendation? Steal something from the wine storage, something vintage and expensive. It doesn’t matter if it’s been laced since he’ll disgorge it immediately, but the glass you serve him  _ must  _ have the full vial in it.”

Ryan hummed and nodded, thinking to himself. He tapped his fingers on the table, and then looked at Shane with a hopeful expression. Shane looked back at him with the same mischievous twinkle in his eye that Ryan had grown so accustomed to, the same impish curve in his eyebrows he had every time they had a foolproof idea.

“You thinking what I’m thinking, big guy?” 

“Disguises?” Shane asked.

“Disguises.” Ryan answered. 

———

They had a simple, solid plan in motion by noon, thanks to Komos’s valuable information and gift of god strength Ipecac. The satyr pulled a pair of t-shirts that were similar to the lotus employee shirts out of thin air to help them blend in at the club. Ryan and Shane changed in the bathroom at the diner, and without a moment to waste, they made their way around the block to the back entrance of the club which had been left curiously unguarded during the day. 

Komos saw them off, fidgeting with his slender fingers.

“Remember. The full vial has to go in one  _ glass _ of wine, not the entire bottle. Otherwise, it’s not potent enough to do the job. Shane, since you’re the one delivering it, I would advise you to hover around the table, then signal Ryan to let him know when he has drunk all of it. Ryan, keep a lookout, avoid the other staff whenever possible. Watch out for each other, I cannot help you once you are inside.” 

“Don’t worry about us, we got this under control.” Shane reassured the nervous satyr, making sure his walkie function on his Apple Watch was working. “Besides, if it starts to look bad, we can ditch and come up with a new plan. Not afraid to push over some waiters this once, and I’m sure Ryan would love to have an excuse to give those muscles a test run.” 

“I’m not gonna hit anybody if I don't have to. These gains are privilege, not a toy” Ryan protested, crossing his arms just to flex his biceps.

Shane rolled his eyes and sighed wearily, knowing that was a load of crap, just based on the number of times Ryan had accidentally bruised him because he’d playfully punched his shoulder too hard.

“You must do whatever is necessary, Lord Dyonisus cannot remain the den against his will any longer. He has many duties on Olympus and a number of vineyards on his estate to keep up with. I am wishing you both much luck and success. You have my blessing with you.” 

“Okay,” Ryan turned and grabbed ahold of the back door’s rusting handle, then looked back at Shane. “I’m ready when you are.” 

“Let’s rock and roll, buckeroo.”

Ryan didn’t even have time to snort at that. As soon as he thrust open the door, they were surrounded by the noise and bustle of the club’s back room and kitchen.

The entrance opened to a short hall filled with boxes of non-perishable supplies and alcohol, leading directly to the kitchen filled with cooks and other kitchen staff, all working in a synchronized, efficient manner, the likes of which neither Ryan or Shane had never seen before. Waiters were quick at retrieving trays of appetizers and drinks before disappearing through swinging doors, only to return moments later for another round. The music was still pulsing and could be heard all the way in the back of the kitchen. It was like they’d never left. 

Shane weaved his way through the kitchen as quickly as possible, like he knew where he was going, with Ryan barely keeping up, dodging waiters and kitchen staff. He almost slammed right into Shane when he skidded to a stop, stealing an apron off one of several pegs lining the wall near a set of lockers. Ryan watched him, but didn’t bother to follow suit and grab his own.

“What are you doing?” Ryan asked above the noise of the kitchen, watching Shane tie the apron on with practiced ease. 

“Trying to look like I work here instead of strutting around in an employees shirt, not working while the other staff see and get pissed off. Just act like you’re a new hire shadowing me or something. Here,” Shane pulled him aside to a large glass enclosure, filled with tall racks of wine bottles and shelves of expensive liquors. “In here.” 

The door was unlocked and slid open easily, so they slipped inside and shut the door. 

“Whoa…” Ryan whistled at the sheer number of bottles, organised by style and price. The further up the rack he looked, the higher the dollar amount went. “That’s a lot of wine.” 

Shane said nothing as he inspected the older bottles while Ryan tapped his foot impatiently, eventually pulling one from the middle of a row of expensive vintage bottles. “I have a feeling about this one…” He whispered, turning the deep honey colored bordeaux over in his hands. “It feels right, somehow.”

“Dude, holy shit, that’s a $2,000 bottle of wine.” Ryan said, watching Shane squeeze the bottle neck in his hand before turning back to Ryan. 

“I know, but it just feels…  _ lucky. _ I don’t know how to describe it. I think we should go with this one.” 

Before Ryan could say it didn’t matter to him, the door to the wine storage slid open behind them, and a short man with a red face stomped inside.

“What are you two doing in here?!” He demanded, breathing loudly through his nose. “Quit standing around, we have tons of customers that need service. If you got time to lean, you got time to keep the racket going before people get sober and get wise.” He said angrily. 

He was wearing an ill-fitting, cheap suit with a pin that displayed his title as ‘manager’ with a little blue lotus next to his title. He looked like he was about to blow a blood vessel from how flushed he was, glowering at both Ryan and Shane with permanently furrowed eyebrows.

Shane was quick to snap into character, calmly stepping in front of Ryan, who looked like he was already about to drown. 

“A VIP table on the left balcony requested a vintage bottle, but asked for a surprise. They have money to burn so I thought I’d go with one of our more expensive selections.”

The manager hummed, holding out his hand for the bottle, which Shane turned over without a fuss. He studied it for a moment, breathing with an odd nasal whistle that made the hair on Ryan’s neck stand up.

“Mmmh, Château d’Yquem, 1949. Good selection, they should enjoy that.” He said before he handed it back to Shane, turning on Ryan. “And you, what’s your business in here? Where’s your apron?!”

“He’s the new hire sir, I’m showing him how we do things around here.” Shane answered for Ryan before Ryan could stutter out a response. 

“I don’t remember hiring anybody… whatever. Just get moving! Don’t keep that table waiting. We don’t want them getting wise before they’ve run out of money. And you!” The manager pointed at Ryan, Ryan flinched. “Get yourself an apron! Time is money, it ain’t cheap to keep a building this big enchanted for so long. Now move it, both of you!” 

“Yes sir, right away, sir!” Ryan squeaked and quickly followed Shane out of the spirits storage, weaving around tables and other staff. 

Shane said nothing, just glancing behind them to make sure the manager wasn’t watching. Thankfully he wasn’t, but Shane did catch him locking the spirits storage door before traipsing away. 

“That was fucking close.” Ryan said as they reached the left side stairways.

“Too close. Looks like we only have one shot at this, Strawberry Bob locked the wine storage.” Shane grumbled. “Okay, I’ll go up there and give him the glass. I’ll give you the signal when he’s had the whole thing so you can make your way up, but for now,  _ try and act natural.  _ Just chill out, okay dude?”

“Okay, okay… calming myself down now. Good luck up there. Walkie me if something seems fishy. I’ll be listening.” 

They exchanged a more subtle variation of their private handshake before parting ways. Shane made his way up the stairs two at a time, nodding to another waiter who was on their way down with a tray of empty glasses. At the top, he could see Dionysus and his party, still sitting where they’d left them several hours ago. 

Shane grabbed a large wine glass from a set of racks near the third level bar, and quickly uncorked the bottle. It smelled sweet for an aged bottle, something about it reminded him of the video shoot with Ryan at Knotts Berry Farm…. The different boysenberry themed foods he and Ryan had tried with unbridled enthusiasm, the California spring sun that warmed his skin while Ryan warmed his heart with his deep, genuine laughter, the brilliant orange sky at sunset when they finally left what was probably their second most favorite amusement park. It made Shane smile to himself as he tipped the bottle lip over the edge and listened to the wine lap at the inside of the glass. 

He watched from the corner of his eye as he poured, but nobody paid him any attention. He blended in all too well with noise of the club and the faceless people meandering about the balcony, apathetic and content to stay where they were. 

Then came the vial, which had no apparent scent that Shane could discern, he wasn’t about to taste test it himself; he liked having his stomach intact and undissolved. He glanced around before tipping the contents into the glass. It dripped slowly like honey, taking forever and a day to empty. Shane scowled, holding his breath and keeping an eye on the bartender until the last drop slowly dripped out of the vial and into the wine. He sighed in relief as he pocketed the empty vial, swirling the wine around to mix it for good measure, and then grabbed a serving tray to make himself look more official. 

Dionysus paid him little mind as Shane approached, so he listened in on the god as he retold a story to others who must have been devotees of his, all dressed in some manner of symbolism relating back to the god. 

Dionysus himself was even dressed in his own symbolism; wearing an expensive suit jacket the same color of ripe red grapes, with little gold buttons on the cuffs that were shaped like pine cones. He wore a silk shirt covered in a green ivy pattern, tucked into crisp slacks with sharp looking maroon oxfords. 

It was the way that Dionysus spoke that really pulled Shane into his gravitational field. He was difficult to ignore because he sounded both charming and a little bit annoying. His voice was much deeper than Ryans, but not as deep as Shane’s own voice could be. It had a rich quality to it, sweet with many layers of depth, and tumbled over Shane like a mild mountain breeze on a summer night.

“And so I told this man; ‘you care that much about a firm border between our vineyards? Ask me to make you a border marker then’, and he _actually_ _did!_ So of course, I made him a border marker, I turned him into a pine tree and set the boundary with him marking the property line. I think I’ll just leave him there until my next harvest.” And then he laughed at his own joke. 

His followers laughed too, like it was the funniest thing they’d heard yet. And maybe it was, but Shane had to try as hard as he could not to let the shock he felt show on his face. He had no interest in being transformed into a potted palm plant for serving Dionysus poisoned wine, doomed to join the rest of the club's decor for eternity.

Shane quickly, but carefully set the glass down in front of Dionysus, who quietly thanked Shane without really paying attention, listening to another satyr speak while Shane set the remaining bottle down in front of him. He turned to ditch the tray and make himself busy elsewhere on the balcony, but barely made it a few steps away before Dionysus called after him.

“Sir, I didn’t order this…” Dionysus said, with a cat-like smile on his lips. He was holding the glass stem pinched between his pointer finger, his middle finger, and his thumb. He looked quite seductive with the dark eyed stare he was giving Shane, but Shane nearly lost his nerve. 

Thankfully, a lie found its way to Shane’s lips rather quickly. He always had been good at lying when put on the spot. 

“It’s a gift, from another patron. He wanted to surprise you.” 

Dionysus studied him for a moment, Shane could feel his deep brown eyes roaming over him. It felt intimidating, compared to the way Ryan could look him over and make it feel thrilling. Then again, Ryan wasn’t capable of driving Shane mad, at least not instantaneously. 

“Selinus…?” Dionysus finally asked, with one eyebrow raised. Now, Shane could play that game, playing coy. 

“He told me not to say.”

Dionysus threw his head back and laughed, a deep, rich laugh that cascaded over Shane like river water. He continued to laugh before reclining back in his chair, smiling almost as brightly as Ryan. 

“About time he arrived! You tell that old fool I said to come and say hello! No more games from him.” 

“Right away, sir.” Shane smiled and nodded, before turning around to retreat down the stairs. 

He let out a massive sigh of relief as soon as he was down the stairs, running his fingers through his hair to calm himself down. His knees were shaking from how nervous he was, how close he’d been to blowing it. 

They weren’t nearly close enough to be out of the woods yet, so Shane gathered his nerves and looked for a secluded, less busy area of the second floor. Once he was out of the way, he radioed for Ryan. 

“Ryan, do you copy?” 

_ “I copy.”  _ Was the fuzzy response from his watch a moment later. 

“Dionysus has the glass, he’s drinking it now. Watch for my signal, it shouldn’t be long. Radio when you’ve seen it.” 

_ “Got it, over and out.” _

Shane waited before returning to the third floor, taking a few deep breaths before turning back around, and heading back up the stairs. 

Dionysus was halfway through the glass, listening intently to one of the Maenads speaking. Occasionally he’d swirl the contents of the glass around before taking a large sip. It wasn’t long before he had drained the contents of the glass and he was looking over to Shane for a refill.

“Tell Selinus I said this was a good selection, as usual.” As Shane carefully refilled his glass. “It reminds me of the fields I used to play in as a child.” 

“Of course, he said he’ll be up to see you in a while.” 

Dionysus laughed darkly to himself, shaking his head. “He’s probably too drunk to tackle the stairs right now. I’ll leave him be for now, I’m sure he’s cozying up to some beautiful woman.” 

“He did seem to be a little tipsy.” Shane said, as he poured a glass for another Satyr who’d been patiently waiting. He glanced at Dionysus from the corner of his eye, wondering if it hadn’t been the right move to imply that his ancient foster-father was down the stairs, getting too drunk to stand.

“He hasn’t been sober in years... What’s the world come to when the child is taking care of the caretaker? Psh, I complain, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Dionysus said with a glassy, look in his eyes. He took a slow sip of his wine before changing the subject entirely, looking at Shane. “Say, tall fellow. After you disappeared, I thought to myself, he’s got a charming face, what catch for the ladies… or lads. Something tells me you’re a sharp witted man. You should think about working for me on my vinyard. Have you ever wanted to live in Napa? You could learn the secrets to true viticulture, my secrets specifically. My friends here can attest, I pay much better than someplace like this. Plus room and board… you’d be quite comfortable, friend.” 

Shane laughed nervously under Dionysus’s gaze as he tapered off the stream of wine, setting the bottle back on the table without it making a sound. If he didn’t know any better, he’d have thought the god was asking him to join his cult. 

“I'm humbled by the offer, sir. But I have a good job with coworkers that I very much enjoy already, and I couldn’t leave them high and dry for a vineyard. No disrespect to your estate though, I’m sure it's lovely.” 

Dionysus looked him over again, with the same sly smile from before. 

“Incredibly bold of you to turn me down… I like that. Should you change your mind,” Dionysus pulled a business card from out of nowhere and held it out to Shane between two fingers. “This will put you through to my assistant, tell him that Dennis asked for you personally. That I said you have a face and a personality my patrons and guests would rather enjoy.” 

“I’ll consider it.” Shane said, pocketing the gold embellished card, smiling politely. “Give it a… good night's rest. Very generous of you to offer, Mister?.”

“Psilas. Dennis Psilas, friend. Most just call me Dennis.” 

“Well, Dennis. Your generosity is not unappreciated.” Shane nodded his head before seeing to some of the other devotees' needs at Dionysus’s table. 

“Where is Komos anyway? I miss that nervous little creature. He’s so very skittish, like a baby deer.” One of the women said, sipping a different white wine from her glass, clutched between her forest green nails. 

“I haven’t seen hide nor hair of him all night, but I’m sure he’s found himself another handsome little kid to sport with, so I won’t bother him until I need him.” Dionysus said, chuckled to himself.

The change in conversation was a convenient segue for Shane as he made his way to the balcony and glanced over the edge, scanning for Ryan. He spotted him in a corner of the right side, second floor balcony, keeping a vigilant if not an anxious eye out for anything unusual. His eyes finally settled on Shane and Shane gave him the signal: a single thumbs up. He watched Ryan fiddle with his wrist before Ryan’s voice came through Shane’s watch. 

_ “I got your signal, headed to wait near the third floor restrooms now. I’ll radio for you once he’s out of the funk. _ ” 

“Copy that, over and out.” Shane said quietly to his watch. He turned and made his way for the stairs to find somewhere to hide before he would be stuck waiting on Dionysus’s table. Which wouldn’t be so bad, the group of nymphs and satyrs seemed very nice. Shane just didn’t want to be nearby and on the wrong end of an accusing finger when Dionysus started feeling sick. 

He didn’t expect to get to the second floor landing and find one of the staff standing with the raspberry faced manager, clearly waiting for him. Shane stopped short like a deer caught in headlights when he recognized the waiter as the one from the night before who’d given him and Ryan the drinks. 

The Manager looked furious, redder than he’d been in the wine storage, with his arms crossed, wrinkling his cheap suit jacket. 

“That’s him.” The waiter said, pointing at Shane. “That’s one of the men that got out last night. They didn’t drink what I offered them. His companion must be around here somewhere… they must be here for the token on the third floor. I knew they stank of half-god blood.” 

“Hey… boss. Was just, heading to the kitchen real quick to snag an order for a table.” Shane tried, doing his best to wiggle out of the situation, but the manager just glowered at him. His hand shot out and grabbed Shane by the wrist,  _ hard.  _

Shane grunted at the bone shattering grip, trying to pull his wrist out of it so he could bolt, but the manager’s hand was clamped on like a vice. Shane’s blood ran cold as he realized there was no running away from them.

“Don’t think you’re going anywhere anytime soon. You’re coming with me. Nobody meddles with the Blue Lotus Den and gets away with it.” 

———

It was maybe half an hour before Shane had given him the signal, and Ryan was going out of his mind waiting for the moment when he’d approach Dionysus. He’d hovered around tables, avoiding patrons trying to get his attention for service before he’d rushed into one of the bathrooms to flip his shirt inside out so the lotus wasn’t visible anymore. 

After Shane had given him the signal, Ryan ran up the stairs and crossed the deck connecting the two balconies. He loitered near the third floor restrooms behind some potted palm trees, nervously glancing around until finally,  _ finally _ , Dionysus appeared. 

He was headed directly for the restroom as Komos said he would, walking with an impressive stride in his step. His features were carefully schooled into something calm and neutral, but Ryan could tell from his eyes that he wasn’t feeling good, and whatever Komos had given them had done the trick. 

Everything was going well so far, a little  _ too  _ well. The plan wasn’t exactly foolproof and well… Ryan and Shane could easily be categorized as fools. Hell, they’d centered their whole career and company around it. Ryan knew sooner or later, a hitch would likely present itself in the plan.

Ryan waited a little longer after Dionysus disappeared into the restroom, giving him five or so minutes to take care of his dire business before he finally worked up the courage to venture into the bathroom, he just couldn’t handle the suspense any longer. 

He stepped in quietly, though he couldn’t really tell how quiet he was being. He could barely hear above the rush of blood in his ears. His heart was pounding so fast, his palms were sweating, nearly as wound up as he would get during his solo investigation walks on Unsolved, but he went forward anyway. Time was ticking by fast.

He found Dionysus bent over a running sink, rubbing his temples with his fingers and groaning quietly. His hair appeared to be a little more disheveled than it had been the first time Ryan had seen him, and he seemed to be sweating. It was almost disenchanting for a god to look so fatigued, to look so ill, to look so  _ human.  _

Ryan could see why Komos had warned him to be careful in the first place. Dionysus didn’t even seem to know Ryan was there until he spoke. 

“Lord Dionysus?” Ryan asked, his voice breaking. He tried to be as respectful as possible, both Morpheus and Komos had spoken of Dionysus and the other gods with respect to their titles, Ryan supposed it would probably be best if he followed suit. He didn’t feel like ending up in an insane asylum at the age 29.

It was apparently the wrong thing to say, the god gripped the edge of the sink hard enough to make the ceramic basin crack. 

“You dare invoke my name in a public place?” Dionysus growled. “Are you with the one who did this to me? Are you both stupid? Arrogant enough to think I am capable of dying?!”

He turned sharply to face Ryan, Ryan almost wilted underneath his angry gaze. 

_ “Child of Hades,” _ Dionysus hissed, his shrewd grin revealing large, bright teeth. “I have no quarrel with my uncle, so you’ll tell me where I am and what your intentions are at once, and I’ll consider not standing idly by, watching while droves of drunken patrons tear you limb from limb.”

Ryan gulped and held up his hands, taking a tiny step back. 

“I’m just here to help you, please d-don’t make people tear me up, that’s like one of my worst recurring nightmares. My name is Ryan Bergara. Komos, y-your assistant guy, he told me and my friend how you got here. All we gave you was an emetic to get the stuff you’ve been drinking out of your stomach so the lotus narcotic would wear off. You’re in a club called  _ Blue Hydrophyte,  _ it's a lotus den disguised as a business and they’ve been keeping you here for some reason.” 

“And how did you know I was here, who gave you my location? What do you want from me?” Dionysus asked, flicking the tap behind him off in a way that made Ryan flinch.

“Morpheus! It was Morpheus. He came to me in a fever dream, after I was bitten by the Chimera. He said the other Olympians are looking for you, they sent people looking and they all disappeared here. He said you know the location of someone named Delphi, that there’s a prophecy I’m involved with that I’m supposed to hear.” 

Dionysus looked Ryan up and down before straightening to his full height. 

“I don’t believe you.” He said, taking several steps closer. 

“It’s the truth, I swear!” 

“Then swear it on the Styx.”

“The what?!” 

Dionysus put one hand on his hip, shifting his weight to the opposite foot. “You either really are an idiot or new to this world... Swear that you are telling the truth on the River Styx, and I will know immediately if you’re lying or not. A broken promise on the Styx is not taken lightly among Olympians, and I can promise you the punishment is far worse and far more painful than death.” 

Ryan swallowed, his mouth went dry. He nodded nonetheless, and took a deep breath.

“I swear on the River Styx that I am telling you the truth, and that I’m just here to help.”

Dionysus held up his hand as if to tell him to be silent. They waited in the eerie quietness of the bathroom, Ryan held his breath to see what would happen, but it remained quiet, save for the steady, distant, upbeat rhythm of the club's music. After a small eternity, Dionysus lowered his hand.

“So you are telling the truth... Please, forgive my hostility, godling. I have been cornered while I was vulnerable many times before.” Dionysus’s demeanor softened immediately, the corner of his mouth quirked up in an apologetic smile.

He looked over Ryan’s appearance with a soft gaze, studying his presence before closing the distance between them, clasping Ryan’s shoulders with a gentle grip. Ryan jolted when he made contact, and Dionysus laughed to himself, but lowered his hands out of respect for Ryan’s space.

“I’m not going to hurt you, friend, you’ve proven that you’re of no threat to me. You look so much like my uncle, you know. It’s been many years since I’ve seen him. It’s nice to see those brown eyes again.”

“Your uncle?” Ryan asked, still frozen under Dionysus’s gaze. 

“Yes, my uncle, Lord Hades. He would keep watch over me in the Underworld when my caretaker was indisposed with other matters… but we don’t have time for those stories right now.” Dionysus patted Ryan’s shoulder once before slipping past him to the exit.

“Wait, You’re saying my father is  _ Hades? _ ” 

Dionysus stopped and turned, looking at him with a curious expression. “Child, you really don’t know who your divine parent is?” 

“No. Morpheus wouldn’t tell me, but he said that you might know.” 

“It’s not Lord Morpheus’s place to say, it would have been… I suppose what you could call insensitive. A breach of family affairs. Lord Hades is a busy god, but I find it odd he never reached out to you, he usually does when his children come of age. It’s their birthright to know what they really are. But you said Morpheus also told you to seek out the Oracle Delphi?” 

“Yeah, there’s a prophecy I’m supposed to hear.” 

Dionysus’s features hardened, he pondered for a moment, staring at the tiled floor. 

“He must be trying to protect you from something. This situation is more dire than I had originally thought. And the lotus-eaters… they’re not supposed to overstep their bounds with the immortals, it’s a serious grievance that I’ve been here for… What’s today?”

“Uh… last I checked it was June 26th.” 

The expression on Dionysus’s face sharpened, he looked angry. 

“I’ve been in here for a month… but not any longer. We must retrieve your friend and leave immediately, they’re in great danger out there alone. The lotus-eaters do not like to be meddled with, and I’m sure they will have noticed that I’ve disappeared.” 

“Oh shit, I was supposed to radio Shane.” Ryan swore, holding his watch up to his face to speak to it. “Shane, I have Dionysus with me, we’re ready to leave. Do you copy? Over.” 

There was no response, only silence from the watch. Ryan huffed and tried again, Dionysus watched, perplexed, with a single eyebrow raised. 

“Shane, this is Ryan. Dionysus is out of the lotus funk and we’re ready to leave. Do you copy? Over.”

Still, there was silence, Ryan shuffled his footing and tried again. 

“Stop playing games, Shane. Answer your fucking watch, over.” 

Finally there was a static pitch from the watch, and the sound of heavy breathing that was definitely not Shane’s, although Shane could be heard nearby on the other end, babbling about something. 

_ “We have your companion, godling. Bring us the drunkard and we’ll let you leave with your idiot intact.”  _

Ryan stood there, stunned. The hairs on the back of his neck rose, the blood in his heart felt like it ran cold with ice. 

“Well, this certainly is a complication.” Dionysus said, and he pressed a pair of fingers to Ryans watch, closing his eyes for a moment. “I see where the other frequency is coming from, the back of the club near the kitchen. Let’s go get your friend.”

“Oh god, they’re going to hurt him. They may have already hurt him, and I left him out there all alone.” Ryan said, his voice just as shaky as his hands. 

“Now is not the time to panic, friend. They probably gave him something to drink to try and get him to talk. And if they did hurt him… I swear to you, they will have my unrelenting wrath to deal with until the day they die, and then the furies wrath for all of eternity. Come on, no time to waste.” Dionysus turned, and walked swiftly towards the exit. 

“Wait, how are we going to get him back?! We don’t have a plan!” Ryan called after him, and Dionysus stopped and pivoted, grinning at Ryan with the ferociousness of a panther.

“You don’t need a plan. You have me.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The plot thickens.... for seemingly no reason...
> 
> Goodness, I went over this chapter several times before posting, I hope you all enjoy it. Next chapter might be ready in... maybe a week or so? Depends. Some of it is written already but I'm falling a bit behind on school work, and alas. Education is more important than fantasy.
> 
> Thank you again for the comments on the last chapter, they were so nice. They genuinely made my day. I'll get around to answering them soon, I hope.

**Author's Note:**

> It would seem the muses were able to inspire me, so I present for your reading pleasure: The Greek Comedy. 
> 
> I'm taking a lot of liberties with the mythology. There's like 30 different stories about how Dionysus came to be (yes he will be in the fic, I cannot help myself). So I thought I'll do what I want with what I want. It worked for Rome and it'll work for me too. 
> 
> I cannot make any promises with my updates. Why did I choose to start a fic during one of the busiest semesters of my life? I dunno. I like doing things the hard way I guess. 
> 
> But I'm very excited about this fic. It's nice to finally write after almost a year's worth of writers block. And I hope anybody reading this gets excited too. 
> 
> If you like it so far, let know what you think. Comments really help with my creative process and give me that additional boost of much needed dopamine to finish writing things. 
> 
> The second chapter is halfway drafted and I may have it posted by the end of this week, if not next week.


End file.
